


A Talk

by NackNack



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 20:13:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5679286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NackNack/pseuds/NackNack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A simple fic of Solas and Cole having a chat. This was a commission for tumblr user Cloud-Killed-By-Doors, who requested a conversation between the two characters. Contains vague Asunder spoilers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Talk

The night was cold, black, pressing in on his face, his hands, his eyes. Despite his distance from the Spire, it seemed the fear never left Cole. It was true, he was safer now, warmer, seen. And that was what mattered, really, wasn’t it? That he was _seen_.

But seen by too many eyes, it seemed. Eyes that would follow him, look him up and down, then move on. Yes, they forgot, but now it was forgetting when Cole didn’t tell them to, and remembering when he wanted them to very much forget. Haven had been terrible, with the sprawling open lanes and houses for people to duck in and out of. But here. Here. Skyhold was a dream, a place where he could sink into any cranny or hole he could find and disappear, just like he used to.

Disappear from all, that was, except for those who always seemed to be looking.

Yes, to Cole it was as if wherever he went there was a gaze following him. A deep, somewhat wary pair of eyes, as if the owner was doing their best to never be perceived, but it was unmistakable none the less.

And now, as he padded down the corridor from his last meeting with the Inquisitor, Cole hoped deeply that he would remain to go unseen, that the pair of eyes would glaze over or move on.

But it seemed his luck was against him. As he stepped onto the floor of the main hall, Cole found himself nearly running down the elf in front of him. Of course, it was the elf he was most looking to avoid. 

“Ah. Cole, it has been a while, has it not? Indeed it seems so long since last we spoke.” Solas smiled at Cole, and he found himself shocked yet again that someone had seen him against his will.

“Well, yes,” Cole replied. “That is because when I leave, you forget, so when I come, you stop forgetting and remember how long it’s been since you last forgot.”   
Solas chuckled, nodding politely. “It does seem to work this way, this magic of yours. But tell me, did you have any plans for the afternoon? I was rather looking for some company.”

Cole shifted on his feet. He liked Solas, he truly did, but something about the man always made him on edge. There were hurts he could see, see but not heal, and he knew that telling Solas about those hurts would only make it worse, only make them ache. So he pretended not to know, just like Solas pretended like he didn’t know that Cole knew. It was easier that way for the both of them. 

“I was…I had plans to find a rock. Shiny, white, one that glistens in the light just like her hair did on that winter day, crisp like the stone in her engagement ring. But you can help me look. Company is good, even when company is not expected. In fact, that is when company is most good, it seems, is when it isn’t expected.” Cole nodded slightly, reaffirming this fact for himself. He looked at Solas, then began heading outside.

A pattering of bare feet behind him told Cole that Solas was used to following people who moved as sporadically as Cole did. 

“I must respectfully beg to differ there,” Solas replied with a smirk, catching up with the boy. “I, personally, find it daunting to encounter someone out of the blue. I’d rather plan and prepare, especially for my friends outside of the Fade.”

“And within?” Cole asked. “What about within?”

Solas pondered for a moment. “Within the Fade is different, as you know. Spirits, ones such as yourself, come and go in time outside of time. There is no preparation any more so than there is concrete structure. A veritable canvas, void of the rules of the world.” 

The grass outside squished beneath Cole’s feet, a sound that made his breath catch. Like the grass around the campfire on the way back. Like the grass that squished as he and Rhys talked, as Evangeline watched from afar, listening in, back then. Back _before_. 

Solas took the pause, however, as an indication to continue speaking, as he began again. “Take, for instance, a puddle. A cliché metaphor at best, but a useful one.” Squatting beside a puddle, Solas began to lazy drift his finger through the water. “One does not imagine there to be a depth to the puddle, and yet there is, however minutely, a definite distance from the top of the water to the soil beneath. One cannot imagine life within one, yet I have encountered many a puddle with a fish swimming happily just below its surface.” He stood, facing Cole, who now looked down at the water, imagining a fish swirling in its depths. 

“The Fade is similar. There are no limitations to its existence, at least not those set by our minds. One may not fathom the depths of it, especially if one also does not expect to find much. The more I learn of it, the more I see, from what was once a beautiful expanse to what is now a thriving ecosystem. But you know this, too, of course. In fact, you may know more than me.” Solas found this last bit entertaining, as he chuckled at the end of his sentence.

But Cole furrowed his brow instead. “The Fade, what I’ve seen, it’s different. It is like a puddle but not how you say.” With a deep breath, he closed his eyes, willing himself to remember but also to remember at a safe distance from his memories. “Dark, swirling, vast. Is that a person in the distance or something more? Eating, ebbing, cracking, breaking, the pain. The pain in my head and chest as I remember. Her face when she sees Bunny in my hands, his heart as it breaks at the sound of the demon’s voice. And then…nothing.” He opened his eyes. “Nothing.” 

Solas peered at him speculatively from beside the boy. “I would hardly describe the Fade as nothing. Rather the opposite. Perhaps even the embodiment of something.” Cole was about to retort, but the elf cut him off. “No matter. We have delved far into your explorations today. Perhaps a discussion for another time. If I recall, you said you had a rock to find. One that was…white?”

Cole’s eyes lit up. “Yes. White, like her hair and the snow, like the ring. White and shiny. White to ease the pain.”

Solas nodded, and Cole noticed a peculiar sort of look cross the man’s face for an instant before it disappeared. “Yes, to ease the pain. Do lead the way.”


End file.
